Cover Shen (Photo: courtesy of Christie's)
Shen (Photo: courtesy of Christie's)
1 / 1
Expected to fetch as much as HK$200,000,000, Shen, a rare dinosaur skeleton, will be sold by Christie’s this November
Above Courtesy of Christie's
A Tyrannosaurus rex named Shen will be put up for auction at Christie’s Autumn Auction in Hong Kong on November 30 this year. This is the first time a T. rex fossil will be offered for auction in Asia.
Above Shen's skull (Photo: courtesy of Christie's)
Shen's skull (Photo: courtesy of Christie's)
1 / 1
Expected to fetch between HK$120,000,000 and HK$200,000,000, Shen will be exhibited at the Victoria Theatre & Concert Hall in Singapore, before being displayed and auctioned at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre alongside modern and contemporary art items.
Shen, named by Christie’s, means “god” or “godlike” in Mandarin. The 66 million-year-old fossil from the Cretaceous period measures 12.2 metres long, 4.6 metres high and 2.1 metres wide, and weighs 1,400kg.
Don't miss: Why Collecting Dinosaur Fossils Is The Next Big Trend In The Art World
Above Shen's ribcage (Photo: courtesy of Christie's)
Shen's ribcage (Photo: courtesy of Christie's)
1 / 1
“From its surging, bloodthirsty stance, to its remarkable preservation, this is one of the most scientifically studied T. rex skeletons to come to auction,” says James Hyslop, the head of science and natural history at Christie’s. He adds that only about one in 80 million T. rexes have survived, making Shen an exceptionally rare specimen.
The fossil was unearthed two years ago in the US state of Montana in a stretch know as Hell Creek Formation, an area filled with Upper Cretaceous and Lower Paleocene rocks where many dinosaur fossils have been discovered.
Above Shen's jaw (Photo: courtesy of Christie's)
Shen's jaw (Photo: courtesy of Christie's)
1 / 1
Shen isn’t the first dinosaur skeleton to be auctioned by Christie’s. Stan the T. rex was sold to an Abu Dhabi museum for a record-breaking US$31.8 million in 2020; Hector, a raptor fossil, was sold to unnamed private owners for US$12.4 million this May.
NOW READ
M+ hosts Yayoi Kusama Exhibition, Asia’s Biggest Outside of Japan
Enter the World Inside Monet’s Paintings and Get into the Mind of the Celebrated Artist
Wong Kar Wai And Sotheby’s Offer NFT Film And Leslie Cheung’s Jacket In October Auction
Topics
Zabrina is the Senior Editor, Arts and Culture of Tatler Hong Kong. She specialises in performing arts, visual art and film. Her wanderlust was first fuelled by the Mighty Rovers Antarctica Expedition 2010. Over the years, she has interviewed A-list artists and filmmakers, including Oscar winners Chlóe Zhao and Tim Yip, Golden Horse winner Sylvia Chang, In the Mood for Love cinematographer Christopher Doyle, Pachinko author Min Jin Lee, and Coachella’s first Chinese solo singer Jackson Wang. She won gold at the WAN-IFRA Asian Media Awards for her 2021 feature on the waves of hate crimes targeting Asian Americans.
